Bill stood by the open doorway and finished his espresso. He did not see any bus box anywhere around, so he walked through the double doors, careful to go through the right-side door. Seeing him, Kalista did not say anything. She simply pointed to a tray stand on top of which was a bus box. Bill walked over and put his cup and saucer inside.
Going back through the entrance doors, again using the right-side door, he entered the kitchen for real. Jimmy was still talking to Jo Ann.
Bill examined everything, opened every reach-in box, looked at the things on every shelf including the shelf under the steam table, a long, long shelf that ran almost the whole length of the line. He looked at the Garland, opened the Dutch oven and looked inside there too. First thing he would do, he decided, was clean that bad boy. He would have to do it before lighting up the broiler.
Last thing he did was open and walk into the walk-in box. Inside there, a small walk-in box, were some steaks, part of a prime rib, some other leftovers. Nothing much more. So it was clear to Bill that they did not keep supplies here, which meant they had to get them from the main kitchen somewhere.
The line was simple: one stove, two deep fryers, a Garland with a Dutch oven. The Garland was very similar to the ones he’d worked at Suburban, just a little older and a touch smaller.
Ho hum, Bill thought. Nothing exciting, nothing that looked too difficult.
Opposite the cooking equipment was a long counter into which was set a small steam table, big enough to hold a pan of baked potatoes, vegetables and two sauces. There was a flat platform for the prime rib and a place to carve right before it. The steam table finished off with a small sink after which was a full counter to the wall with a large cutting board on it. That was where Jimmy, or whoever was not not doing the broiler, worked.
Underneath the counter were two reach-in boxes, one for cold stuff for Jimmy, like butter and cream, etc., and one for the meats, the steaks Bill would be cooking.
The menu was simple enough. Steaks, chops, prime rib, lobster tails and sautéed frog legs. Then there were two broiled fish entrees, filet of sole and a thick cut salmon. Those, Bill knew, were cooked in the Dutch oven.
When Jimmy was finished with Jo Ann and had come back, he told Bill they had to go out and through the main kitchen to pick up their supplies. That’s how it was done.
They walked together past Kalista and back through the long corridor to the main kitchen. There, Jimmy picked up the truck, a four-wheel two-tiered kitchen cart really, and they started their rounds. First, they picked up a pan of vegetables. At least for today, Bill could see, it was simple mixed vegetables. He could also see that they were frozen, not fresh.
Second stop was at the big rotisserie oven. Jimmy showed Bill which buttons to push to stop the oven and explained that most days when they didn’t have any banquets they would get the things they were about to get from one of the regular stoves. Meanwhile, because they had a party today, the rotisserie was working.
Jimmy showed Bill how to open the door, how to rotate the shelves until he got to the things he needed and was taking. On one shelf, set next to each other, was a prime rib, a pan of scalloped potatoes and a pan of baked potatoes.
They had just put these things onto the cart when a very short young man wearing a very tall chef’s hat came over to them.
“This is Jimmy,” Jimmy said. “Jimmy G, just like me. He’s my cousin.”
“Bill Wynn,” Bill said reaching out his hand to shake hands with the second Jimmy.
“I’m the banquet chef,” the second Jimmy said.
